Banu is yet another gem from the Manik Bagh (The Garden of Jewels), the Maharajah of Indore's palace, for which Eckart Muthesius designed this stool. Through the use of polished stainless steel and a highly demanding working process, the frame appears, from all sides, to be made of a single piece. The exquisite, elegant stool decorated the bathroom of the Maharani, the Maharajah's wife.
A slightly different version travelled on tracks through India - in the legendary saloon carriage of the ruler, for which the interior was also entirely designed by Muthesius.
About the Manik Bagh:
After studies and several long stays in Europe throughout the 1920's, the heir to the ancient Holkar family - Shri Yeshwant Rao Holkar Bahadur - became a fervent art enthusiast and was fascinated by Western avant-garde and the new International Style. In 1930 he commissioned the young German architect Eckart Muthesius to build and furnish the Maharajah's residence in India. Most of the furniture and lighting were made in Germany according to the architect's designs and instructions. Other key furniture objects like tubular steel chairs by Marcel Breuer, the chaise longue by Le Corbusier & Charlotte Perriand, the transat by Eileen Gray as well as specially commissioned pieces by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann or Louis Sognot and silverware by Jean Puiforcat became part of this fairy tale palace of Moderenism.
